In 2011 an internet security firm Comodo fell victim to a hacker attack. This attack was thought to be an Iranian scheme to eavesdrop on encrypted email and other communications. Comodo is a digital security certificate authority and software manufacturer. It unkowingly issued fraudulent certificates for web sites operated by companies such as google, yahoo, microsoft, skype, and mozilla. After discovering the attack the company notified all relevant parties and revoked the fraudulant certificates. These certificates play a very important role in the encryption process. They vouch for the authenticity of a site owner as well as facilitate encrypted communications between sites and users. The hackers could use these certificates to set up server computers that appear to work for the targeted websites. The attack was described as well planned and seems very likely it was "state-driven". As a country that monitors and controls internet traffic, this would enable them to aquire usernames and passwords for these hacked sites. A similar attack, the stuxnet worm used the same idea with fraudulent digital certificates.
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